OVERVIEW
America’s Debt continues to grow. Congress is fiddling with obfuscation and details, while Citizens burn with anger at the spectacle of bequeathing our economic irresponsibility to our children and grandchildren. The Founders put the House in charge of (i) Raising all revenues, i.e.,taxing the People and (ii) Appropriating all monies to be spent, Article #1, of the U.S. Constitution:
• Article 1 / Section 7:
“ALL BILLS FOR RAISING REVENUE SHALL ORIGINATE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; BUT THE SENATE MAY PROPOSE OR CONCUR WITH AMENDMENTS AS ON OTHER BILLS.”
• Article 1 / Section 9:
“NO MONEY SHALL BE DRAWN FROM THE TREASURY, BUT IN CONSEQUENCE OF APPROPRIATIONS MADE BY LAW; AND A REGULAR STATEMENT AND ACCOUNT OF THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF ALL PUBLIC MONEY SHALL BE PUBLISHED FROM TIME TO TIME.

There is little ambiguity in this responsibility. This present Petition seeks no more and no less than for Congress to do its job, to do it transparently, and in a way that Americans can understand the options before us and the likely consequences of solution paths available.

The Petition signers below believe that bigger government and higher taxes are not a solution that fits within the boundaries of the tyrannical elements of an ever-stronger government and our own Rights as Citizens. Moreover, the morality of taking money from some to bestow upon others is neither charity, nor morality, nor an effective course of action. Some details are given as part of this Petition and supplemented via a LINKED reference which provides further detail:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxdCiYRmOfObOXkwem0yQS15cE0RATIONALE
1. WHEREAS, the National Debt has been accumulating for several decades without being seriously addressed, and;
2. WHEREAS, the Debt is now on the order of 100% of the Nation’s annual production of goods and services (GDP). Moreover, respected economists have asserted that this is a “tipping point” where bad things begin to happen to our economy; e.g., inflation, bank instability, joblessness, and destruction of personal wealth. Furthermore, we have ample recent examples within Europe for several Countries now at or past the tipping point. and;
3. WHEREAS, so far, solutions have been limited by gridlock regarding whether Deficits should be resolved by cutting SPENDING vs increasing TAXES. Moreover, the Administration is focused on increasing taxes because it supports government-driven wealth redistribution as a laudable element of our society. But that rosy vision is not shared by a majority of Americans, and;
4. WHEREAS, data show rather convincingly that spending is the culprit. Moreover, even if the President succeeded in raising taxes on those with incomes greater than $250,000 annually,this would only have a 2-3% effect on the current yearly gov’t budget. And this doesn’t even begin to deal with the unfunded liabilities of our Entitlement Programs, which are three times the size of our $16T Debt. So this tax bracket matter is not a serious solution. It is in fact, a serious obfuscation, and;
5. WHEREAS, the Congress, even with the House under GOP leadership, has failed to create a Budget for 3+ years. But the Budget is the mechanism for Congressional deliberation and for helping develop Citizen understanding of National priorities. The House has the responsibility for all bills to raise revenues and the Congress has responsibility for all Appropriations of monies to be spent. This is an important Constitutional Power and Citizens expect it to be followed in strict fashion, and;
6. WHEREAS, the failure to address our Spending and consequent accumulation of Debt is a failure of the Congress, of every Citizen, and of adhering to our Constitution. We are, each of us, guilty of irresponsibility and sloughing off the results of our profligacy to our children and grandchildren, which the undersigned DON’T LIKE ONE BIT !

REQUEST
Accordingly, the undersigned request that the Congress stop the excuses and use the power given you by the People, via our Constitution. Specifically, we request this:
• Educate the Nation to the truth of our economic situation.
• Don’t authorize any new taxes, or any new appropriations of funds, or any increase in the Nation’s Debt limit without an ironclad Agreement to pass a 2013 budget and a 15 year budget plan that significantly curtails and reduces our Debt growth. The agreement must contain milestones and completion dates and quantitative objectives, by year, for budget Deficit and Debt limits. For context, the Agreement must show this same data together with the historical data of the past 50 years. The Agreement must be signed as legislation by both Houses of the Congress and the President.
• In the interim, prior to the signed Agreement, the House should sign no Appropriations that annually exceed 75% of funds authorized in year 2012.
• Stop the deceit. Stop the profligacy. Stop bequeathing our Debt to our Children and Grandchildren.
• Use your leadership positions to rally the Citizenry. Ally with every sympathetic Governor. Ally with every sympathetic State Legislative Leader. Rotate responsibilities to become visible every day on every major network. If the Founders could fire a “shot heard round the world” in defense of America’s Liberty, surely Members of Congress can fire off some good verbal arguments to get America back on a disciplined economic footing.

Signed,

Mark Sussman

This petition closed about 2 years ago

How this will help

Our Founders fired a "shot heard round the world" leading to a Declaration of Independence, a Revolution, a Constitution and the launching of a uniquely free and noble Nation. In contrast, our...

Our Founders fired a "shot heard round the world" leading to a Declaration of Independence, a Revolution, a Constitution and the launching of a uniquely free and noble Nation. In contrast, our current Congress and Administraton seem to have difficulty just navigating around the Potomac between the "shorelines" of: doing right for the Nation vs. getting re-elected.

But as the Founders knew, it's the job of we Citizens to monitor our government Representatives and help them stay aware of our true needs - - without getting distracted by the minutiae of how much water our toilets need per flush … or which light bulbs to put in our lamps.

This Petition seeks to shake Congress from the minutia of whether to raise taxes on Citizens making more than $250k vs $400k vs $1M per year. Citizens should note that even with the higher-population $250k group, the added tax income would only support about 2-3% of the gov't yearly operating cost. But our Entitlement Programs, which over several decades have been absorbing more and more of our Nation's budget, are barely discussed. Moreover the projected growth of Entitlements is the biggest irritant to balancing the budget right now and more so for future decades. Additionally, our current "Unfunded Liabilities" are 3 times the size of our $16T current Debt, which itself is about 4 times the size of our annual spending. SO … National attention is rivited on a "small change" tax matter that is (100/3) * 3 *4 = 400 times less compelling than the true National threat of Entitlement sprawl. Seems pretty DUMB. Perhaps that is because, our Senate - - "the world's greatest deliberative body" has failed to deliberate on or to pass a Federal Budget in 3+ years.

This Petition gives a summary of some further details which argue that we must worry about our SPENDING, not waste the Nation's efforts on new, complicated tax schemes to redistribute National wealth. The Tax code already contains 75,000 pages of unintelligible rules. Shouldn't our government find something more useful to do, e.g., enhance our private sector's ability to grow America's manufacturing, innovation, employment and education prospects?

Please read this Petition and if you agree, please sign it and/or send your own copy to your State Senators and Congressperson.